AI Receptionists and Chat Agents: Decide, Brief, Compare

All lessons Lesson 6 of 7 • about 14 minutes A plumber works under a kitchen sink with both hands busy while a phone beside the toolbox glows with an incoming call.
By the end of this lesson: Decide with your own call and cost numbers whether an AI phone or chat agent is worth a trial, write the one-page brief it must follow, and compare providers on cost, control and privacy.

An AI receptionist answers your phone, and a chat agent answers your website or messaging inbox, when you cannot. It can pay for itself or be a monthly bill that recovers nothing; your own call log tells you which.

You will finish with page 6 of your AI playbook: the arithmetic, a one-page brief for the agent, and a written decision of no, not yet, or a 30-day trial.

What an agent does, and where it breaks

A phone or chat agent can answer at any hour, reply from your facts sheet, collect a name and reason for calling, book or take a message, and send you a summary.

It struggles with poor lines, upset callers, emergencies, unusual requests and anything your facts sheet does not cover. Plan now for how those calls reach a person.

Run the missed-call arithmetic before you shop

Start with the missed-call count from your Lesson 1 baseline. These are example numbers; replace every one with your own.

  • 6 missed calls a week × half that were real enquiries = 3
  • 3 × a close rate of 1 in 3 = 1 job a week
  • 1 job × $250 gross profit × 4.33 weeks = about $1,080 a month at stake
  • Assume an agent recovers half until you have measured: about $540
  • Less an example all-in cost of $200 a month = about $340 a month ahead

Run the same sum with 1 missed call a week: about $180 at stake, about $90 recovered, against the same $200. That business loses about $110 a month.

Price the cheaper fixes before any agent:

  • A callback habit: every missed call returned at two set times a day.
  • Voicemail-to-text: Rogers listed a Premium Voicemail-to-Text add-on at $7.00 a month on its consumer add-ons page on 6 October 2026; business plans may differ.
  • Forwarding unanswered calls to a staff phone or answering service; TELUS, for example, describes a Call Forward No Reply setting for mobiles. Ask your carrier what forwarded calls cost.
  • A booking link in your voicemail greeting and text replies.

Write the brief: your playbook is the script

Your playbook is the agent's script: the facts sheet and saved replies (Lesson 3), tone and offers (Lesson 4), price ranges and stop-and-ask points (Lesson 5) and the policy (Lesson 2). Thin documents produce wrong answers. The brief has five parts:

  1. Greeting. It says it is an automated assistant and, if the call is recorded, says so and why.
  2. Three jobs it may do, such as answering from the facts sheet, booking and taking messages.
  3. A never list: firm prices outside the facts sheet; medical, legal or safety advice; taking card numbers.
  4. Emergencies: “If this is an emergency, hang up and dial 9-1-1.” Clinics can add 9-8-8, the Suicide Crisis Helpline, by call or text at any hour.
  5. Hand-off: anyone who asks for a person, or is upset, gets one or a promised callback time.

Why those lines are there:

  • Recording. Federal privacy commissioner guidance on recording customer calls says to tell the caller the call is recorded and why, and to offer another way to deal with you if they object. It does not mention AI agents, so assume an agent's recordings and transcripts count.
  • Saying it is automated. No general federal rule in force requires this, as far as this lesson's checks found (bills C-34 and C-36 were still at second reading on 6 October 2026). It is recommended practice: Canada's privacy commissioners say people should know when they are dealing with a generative AI tool, and the Competition Bureau says courts look at the general impression you create.
  • Storage abroad. Federal guidance says the federal private-sector privacy law does not bar processing outside Canada, but you stay accountable and should tell customers. As Lesson 2 noted, Quebec's private-sector privacy law requires a privacy impact assessment before personal information is sent outside Quebec. Ontario clinics: read the provincial privacy commissioner's January 2026 AI scribe guidance and ask your college.
  • Cards. Card-industry guidance puts the people and systems that take spoken card details under its security standard. Keep payments with your processor.
  • Accessibility. Ontario's customer service guidance expects staff to communicate in a way that considers a customer's disability, so always offer another route.

This is general information, not legal advice.

You answer for what it says: trial rules

In Moffatt v. Air Canada, 2024 BCCRT 149, decided 14 February 2024, British Columbia's Civil Resolution Tribunal held the airline responsible for its website chatbot's wrong answer about bereavement fares, calling the chatbot part of the airline's website, and ordered it to pay $812.02 in damages, interest and fees. This is one small-claims decision and general information, not legal advice. The practical point stands: the agent's words are yours.

So a trial has rules:

  • 30 days, month to month, with a written monthly cost ceiling.
  • After-hours or overflow calls only at first.
  • Twenty test calls with your own hardest questions before launch.
  • Transcripts read daily at first, then weekly.
  • Every cost counted, including set-up and your review time.

Compare providers on ten questions

Score each provider on the eight questions from Lesson 2, plus two for phone agents: who owns the phone number and the recordings, and what happens to calls when the service is down.

The CRTC, the federal telecommunications regulator, says you can keep a landline or mobile number if the new provider does the transfer while the old service is active, but a move to or from an internet-based (VoIP) service might need a new one. Get it in writing that a vendor-supplied number can be transferred out. Ask how 9-1-1 works on any internet-based line; the CRTC requires many of those providers to explain its limits.

Two examples of pricing models, from the vendors' own pages on 6 October 2026. They are not recommendations or averages:

  • Per call: Smith.ai's AI Receptionist listed a free tier of 25 calls a month, then $3.00 a call, and a Pro plan at $150 a month for 75 calls. Month to month, with 30 days' notice to cancel. The page names no currency, so confirm it before you sign.
  • Phone plan plus call bundle: Quo listed plans from US$19 per user per month on monthly billing, each with an AI agent and 10 agent-handled calls a month; a US$25 a month tier covers 40 calls, then US$0.75 a call, with taxes and fees extra.

Neither page says plainly whether you get a Canadian local number; add it to your list to ask.

This lesson stops at inbound calls. The CRTC allows sales calls by automated calling device only with the person's prior express consent, National Do Not Call List rules also apply, and marketing texts fall under the Lesson 4 anti-spam checks. Leave outbound until you have had advice. This is general information, not legal advice.

Try it: The agent brief and the decision (steps 1 to 4 take about 10 minutes with your approved AI assistant; the provider scoring in step 5 and the final decision can finish this week)

  1. Run the missed-call arithmetic with your own numbers from your Lesson 1 baseline: missed calls a week, the share that were real enquiries, your close rate and your gross profit per job. Write down the monthly amount at stake and half of it as the assumed recovery. The first prompt below checks your sums.
  2. Write one line each for what two cheaper options would cost you a month, choosing from a callback habit, voicemail-to-text, forwarding unanswered calls and a booking link. Use the price on your own carrier's page, not the example in this lesson; if you do not have it to hand, write "to check".
  3. Write your one-page agent brief as five short headings with one or two lines each: the greeting with its disclosure, three permitted jobs, your never list, the emergency line and the hand-off rule.
  4. Give the brief and your facts sheet (no customer names, numbers or details) to the assistant your Lesson 2 policy approves. Have it tidy the wording, then ask it to play a difficult caller against the brief. Note every place the brief breaks and add the missing line.
  5. This week: open two providers' public pricing and privacy pages, or one provider and the cheaper option you already have, and score each on the ten questions. Anything not published goes on a list to ask in writing.
  6. Record your decision as no, not yet, or a 30-day trial with a monthly cost ceiling, and give the reason in one sentence. Save the arithmetic, the brief, the scorecard and the decision as page 6 of your AI playbook.

Prompts you can copy

Check my missed-call arithmetic

Check my arithmetic and show every step so I can repeat it on a calculator. My numbers: [missed calls a week], [share of those that were real enquiries, as a fraction or per cent], [close rate], [gross profit per job in dollars], [all-in monthly cost of the agent in dollars, including set-up spread over 12 months and my review time]. Work out: missed calls x share x close rate x gross profit x 4.33 = monthly amount at stake. Then half of that as the assumed recovery. Then the recovery minus the monthly cost. Finish with two lines: how many missed calls a week I would need to break even, and which of my five numbers changes the result most if I have it wrong. Do not add any industry averages or statistics.

Tidy my agent brief

You are helping me write a one-page brief for an automated phone or chat assistant at [business name], a [type of business] in [city or area served]. My draft brief: [paste your draft] My facts sheet: [paste your facts sheet, with no customer names or details] Rewrite the brief in short, plain sentences under five headings: Greeting, Three jobs it may do, Never, Emergencies, Hand-off. Keep every rule I wrote. Do not add services, prices or promises that are not in the facts sheet. The greeting must say the caller has reached an automated assistant and must say [that the call is recorded for (purpose) / that the call is not recorded]. The Emergencies line must tell the caller to hang up and dial 9-1-1. The Hand-off line must say how a caller reaches a person: [transfer to (role) / a callback within (time)]. At the end, list any gap or contradiction you found instead of filling it with a guess.

Play a difficult caller

Act as a caller to [business name]. I will reply as the automated assistant and I may only use this brief: [paste your brief]. Run five short calls, one at a time, and wait for my reply after each thing you say. Make them hard: 1. An upset customer complaining about [a complaint you really get]. 2. Someone pushing for a firm price on [a job or service that is not on the facts sheet]. 3. Someone describing [an emergency in your trade or setting]. 4. Someone who asks for a real person three times. 5. Someone who starts to read out a card number. After the fifth call, list each moment where the brief gave me no clear instruction, and suggest one plain line to add to the brief for each. Use invented callers only, with no real names, phone numbers or card numbers.

Provider scorecard and questions to send

I am comparing providers of an AI phone or chat agent for my business. Below is text I copied today from the public pricing and privacy pages of [Provider A] and [Provider B]. [paste the text from each provider's pages] Make a table with one row for each question and one column for each provider: 1. Is our data used to train the model? 2. Where is it stored and who can see it? 3. Can I add and remove staff and see usage? 4. What is the all-in price including overage, and in which currency? 5. Is it month to month, and how much notice to cancel? 6. Can I export everything when I leave? 7. Is there support I can reach? 8. Can I speak to a current customer like me? 9. Who owns the phone number and the recordings, and can the number be transferred out? 10. What happens to calls when the service is down? Answer only from the pasted text and quote the few words you relied on. Where the text does not answer, write "not published" and do not guess. Then draft a short, polite email to each provider asking only its unanswered questions, signed [your name and business].

Before you move on

Remember: An AI receptionist earns a trial only when your own missed-call numbers beat its all-in cost and the cheaper fixes, and it is only as safe as the one-page brief you write for it.

Sources checked for this lesson: British Columbia Civil Resolution Tribunal: Moffatt v. Air Canada, 2024 BCCRT 149 • Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada: Recording of customer telephone calls • Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada: Principles for responsible, trustworthy and privacy-protective generative AI technologies • Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada: Guidelines for processing personal data across borders • Parliament of Canada (LEGISinfo): Bill C-34, Safe Social Media Act • Parliament of Canada (LEGISinfo): Bill C-36, Protecting Privacy and Consumer Data Act • LégisQuébec: Act respecting the protection of personal information in the private sector (chapter P-39.1), section 17 • Competition Bureau Canada: False or misleading representations • CRTC: Key Unsolicited Telecommunications Rules • National Do Not Call List (CRTC): Frequently Asked Questions - For Telemarketers • CRTC: Switch providers and keep your number • CRTC: 9-1-1 Obligations of Local VoIP Service Providers in Canada • 9-8-8: Suicide Crisis Helpline: Home page • Government of Ontario: How to make customer service accessible • Information and Privacy Commissioner of Ontario: IPC releases new guidance on AI scribes to help protect patient privacy (28 January 2026) • PCI Security Standards Council: Information Supplement - Protecting Telephone-Based Payment Card Data (version 3.0, November 2018) • Smith.ai: Plans & Pricing for AI Receptionist • Quo: Pricing (all prices in USD) • Rogers: Mobility add-ons (Premium Voicemail-to-Text) • TELUS: Call forwarding on your mobile device

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